John Teghtmeyer (Bragg Creek Tatonka) waited until the third lap to make his move on the race leader Michael Costigan (Edmonton Boat Anchor) in Sunday's Senior Elite Men's Alberta Provincial Mtb Cross Country Championships.

Having not had a chance to pre-ride the course, Teghtmeyer (the defending champion) learned enough on the first 2 laps by shadowing Costigan. He took over the lead early in lap 3 as the 2 riders passed the feed zone.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Christopherson (Calgary Tatonka) and Dana Ruddy (Jasper Independent) jostled for 3rd, but remained in striking distance of the 2 leaders. Shawn Lee (Rocky Mountain House) made the effort to keep up with them , but faded in lap 3.

Costigan, who looked sharp, punctured late in the third lap. He was seen at one point grinding away at a climb on a bare rim - He was later listed as a DNF.

By this time it was clear that Teghtmeyer was the superior climber and he used the long, sometimes narrow climbs to put a good gap between himself and the chasers.

Teghtmeyer extended his lead to just over a minute in lap 4 and cruised to victory by a margin of 1:36.23. Ruddy, who had been within a minute of Christopherson on the 4th lap, faded in lap 5 to finish almost 5 minutes behind Christopherson, the silver medal winner.

"It was a really good course... I made my time on the climbs," note Teghtmeyer who seemed unfazed by the dry and dusty conditions. He also noted that because of the tight course conditions, passing lapped riders sometimes required a certain amount of aggression. He would like to publicly apologise to any riders who may feel that he was overly zealous in racing for the gold.

In the women's Senior Elite event, Anna Healy (Calgary Tatonka) received her most serious challenge from Masters Expert racer Maria Hawkins (a former Olympic team member). After one lap, Healy established a small lead over 2nd place Andrea Bergon (Edmonton Tatonka) but keeping pace was Maria Hawkins, who looked comfortable with her lead in the Masters Expert event In the Elite category Marni Dansereau trailed Healy by the end of lap 1 by 45 seconds for third place.

Healy dominated the women's race from the start to finish and by the third lap had opened a gap of 2;39 on Bergen and Leslie Schlebach (The Bike Shop) who had worked her way past Danserau.

With Healy comfortably in 1st, the race for silver was being hotly contested by Bergen and Schlebach. The battle continued throughout the latter stages of the race and culminated with a long, fast, steep and very dusty kamikaze run, with Bergon holding on for the silver medal.